North Korea denies mistreatment of United States captive Otto Warmbier

Some 2,500 family, friends and well-wishers gathered for the funeral of Otto Warmbier, the U.S. student who died after falling into a coma while in prison in North Korea.

In its first public reaction to Warmbier's death, a Foreign Ministry spokesman also tried to shift blame onto the administration of President Barack Obama, blaming it for refusing to have a dialogue with Pyongyang and claiming it had never officially asked for Warmbier's release. Otto Warmbier. I said to them, "We ... would need his ... you know, a release, some type of good faith" ...

The agency said: "Our related institutions are treating criminals who committed crimes against (our) republic strictly based on domestic law and worldwide standards, and Warmbier was no different", the KCNA said. He recalled that the United States citizen, who had admitted his guilt, was sentenced by the court to hard labor "for subversive activities against North Korea".

The life of Otto Warmbier, who died earlier this week after being detained for almost a year and a half in North Korea, is being celebrated in his hometown today.

The official said the USA administration was using the death to pile more pressure on North Korea.

Thousands of friends and family members gathered at Wyoming High School in suburban Cincinnati on Thursday for a memorial service for Warmbier, who graduated from the school as salutatorian in 2013.

Warmbier was traveling in North Korea with a tour group.

Otto Frederick Warmbier, a University of Virginia student who was detained in North Korea since early January, is taken to North Korea's top court in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this photo released by Kyodo March 16, 2016.

He warned that the "smear campaign" against the North compelled it to "make firm determination that humanitarianism and benevolence for the enemy are a taboo and we should further sharpen the blade of law".

Warmbier died Monday, just days after he returned to the U.S., and his funeral was held in his hometown in Ohio Thursday.

(CNN) - Days after the death of U.S. student Otto Warmbier following 17 months detention in North Korea, the country's state media claimed his death was a "mystery".

After Warmbier's death, Trump said on Twitter that China had failed to rein in North Korea, a comment that suggested he was weighing new options to deal with a regime that's vowed to develop nuclear weapons capable of striking the US mainland.

"North Korea is a pariah regime".

Pyongyang insists that before Warmbier was sent back home his health was normal.

Warmbier returned to the United States on June 13 in a coma and died less than a week after his return.